The Delegates' Voice

Newsletter for the House of Delegates of AAPG

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NOVEMBER, 2001

Constitution & Bylaws Committee
"Fun in the Sun" (Constitution & Bylaws at Houston)

by George Eynon, Chair

We know how much you are all looking forward to the C&BL report and debates in Houston, but we would like to make this session less contentious than last year's. However, we said that about Denver and you proved us wrong. There are five proposed amendments of the Bylaws for consideration on March 10, 2002 in Houston. They will be fully described -- complete with "[strikeouts] and additions" -- in our report to the House to be published shortly. In the interim, and briefly, they are ...

1. Amendment to provide consultation of EC, AC & HoD on C&BL changes affecting them

This is the most complex piece of legislation, though it has already been implemented in spirit, to obtain the EC, AC and HoD views on COCBAP 3 last year - and it worked wonderfully. The HoD in Denver defeated the COCBAP3 Resolution and then approved the COCBAP2 Resolution to formalize a mechanism to obtain comment from each of the three governing bodies on amendments that might affect them. This amendment will encode the process in the Bylaws.

2. Amendment to require EC "super-majority" vote to alter AC's officer nominations

In the 2000-2001 year the C&BL Committee was directed by the House to investigate requiring the EC to vote by more than a simple majority -- in fact have five (5) affirmative votes -- if it wishes to either reject or change the rank order of any candidates presented by the AC. Robert's Rules of Order governs the EC meetings and permits this process. Therefore this amendment is exactly as voted upon in Denver and is a formal resolution for amendment by the House in Houston in 2002.

3. Amendment to eliminate Divisions' minimum membership number for AC representation

This proposes the elimination of a minimum numeric requirement for Division representation on the AC in order to avoid the situation that occurred in June when the EMD was not able to vote at the AC. The C&BL Committee also considered the merits of a similar provision for Sections and Regions. Currently under the Bylaws, the Sections and Regions must have a minimum of 750 members to obtain their first voting representative, and are permitted additional seats based on total membership. We considered eliminating the 750 member requirement for the initial, voting seat only; however the EC has indicated that, at this juncture, it only endorses the elimination of a minimum membership requirement for the Divisions. The proposal comes from the EC directly and will be voted on in Houston.

4. Amendment to reduce required membership for Emeritus status to 30 years

The EC also passed a resolution for Amendment to reduce the total number of years of membership in the Association required for Emeritus status from thirty-five (35) to thirty (30). This is a simple change and presents no concerns. Since this too comes from the EC directly, it is presented as an amendment for vote in Houston.

5. Amendment to remove Article II, Section 13, paragraph (c) - "effective date"

This is a purely "housekeeping" item removing a provision that is now stale-dated, but was necessary to handle the introduction of a limitation on members holding multiple elected positions in the Association.

Robert's Rules of Order (RRO) as AAPG's official parliamentary authority

Our professional parliamentarian -- Mary Bahde -- suggested we consider making RRO the official parliamentary authority governing the AAPG's conduct of business. However, they already apply to meetings of the EC, AC and HoD and we see no need to apply them to other committees and meetings.

Please take the time to read the full report when it is published, and come to Houston prepared to handle the legislation in record time so that we can all have lunch before the opening ceremonies.

In this issue ...

Committee Reports:

> Nomination and Election
> Resolutions
> Constitution and Bylaws
> Deadlines for Business

> AAPG Members Initiate GEM Program
> AAPG Officer Nominations
> Meeting of the EC, AC, and the HoD Officers
> Membership
> GeoVest Retirement Savings Plan
> 16 YEARS AGO: Milestones for AAPG/HOD

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Visit the House Forum for Updates

The House officers and committee chairs will be posting on the House Forum more updates and additional information for the House meeting on March 10, 2002. Be sure to visit Delegate's Forum often, and discuss the issues with fellow delegates and AAPG members before the meeting.